PARIS, Jan. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Diatos S.A. has been selected as one of the best performing and innovative high-tech private companies of Europe and Israel in the fourth annual Tornado100 list. Diatos, headquartered in Paris, was founded in 1999 as a spin-off from Institut Pasteur (Paris, France) and is developing new therapies for cancer.

"We are honored that our efforts have been recognized by Tornado Insider in its ranking of the Top 100 start-ups in Europe and Israel," said Dr. John Tchelingerian, President & CEO of Diatos. "The award acknowledges the fact that our top-quality team has developed robust technologies and a strong pipeline of oncology products. Being a 2004 Tornado100 Winner will allow us to generate more visibility in the international marketplace."

The 2004 Tornado100 list can be found on the website of Tornado Insider (http://www.tornado-insider.com/), and includes a profile of Diatos and the other 99 most promising and innovative emerging companies in the European IT and biotech sectors.

"The companies Tornado Insider selected are Europe's technology stars," said Niels Valkering, Tornado Insider's Head of Research. "Combining internal analysis with advice from industry specialists, we identified the elite of Europe's high-tech entrepreneurial vanguard, appreciating excellence both in innovative, commercial and financial performance. Watch these companies in 2005, as the technology they are commercializing today will change tomorrow's trends."

The selection of the 2004 Tornado100 Winners from thousands of candidates was judged according to the following criteria:

-- Delivering an innovation that shows the promise to set new standards
-- Creating a major new audience
-- Supplying a key piece of the ICT infrastructure
-- Commanding a significant customer base
-- Having the potential to become a global brand or standard
-- Influencing a major market
-- Receiving a significant amount of funding
-- Having a strong valuation for a lucrative exit
-- Having a management with previous successful exit experience

The list was announced during the Tornado Insider/World Financial Symposiums T100 Leadership Forum. This event took place on January 26, 2005 in London, and was a gathering of technology CEOs and CFOs eager to gain insights on how to lead their enterprise and their careers to more effective and positive outcomes.

About Diatos

Diatos is using its proprietary Diatos Peptide Vector (DPV / Vectocell(R)) intra-cellular/intra-nuclear delivery technology and its proprietary Tumor-Selective Prodrug (TSP) cancer-targeting technology to develop new therapies for cancer and other serious diseases. The company's lead therapeutic candidates, DTS-201 -- a doxorubicin prodrug based on the TSP technology concept - and DTS-301 -- a novel paclitaxel formulation -- are respectively entering Phase I and Phase II clinical trials in 2005.